Some thoughts from Bill

Our first week (and a little more) has been filled with explorations.  I have to admit that while we had immediate good luck with cafe's and shops, just wandering into restaurants hadn't produced anything very interesting.  One of my colleagues at the University lives in the neighborhood, so I asked for advice, noting that we had been experimenting.  A look of horror came over his face, and he declared "experiments can be dangerous."  Granted, he's a theorist. We went that night to his first recommendation, Trattoria Monti.  We look forward to more advice, which we will pass along here.

That first night at Trattoria Monti was funny because, nominally, they didn't have a table.  Even on a Tuesday night in February. The waiter did offer that if we could eat in an hour (a bit of a crime) he could fit us in.  We promised, and figured that we could come back for a leisurely meal another time.   Among other things the special of the evening was a ravioli stuffed with a white fish, which was quite remarkable.   The picture in Char's post below is of a different pasta dish (with zucchini and pumpkin), from the leisurely follow up meal.  Also in that first brief dinner, dessert was a mousse made from ricotta cheese. We thought to be good and share one between the two of us. We had to order a second one, to the great amusement of the waiters.  

It turns out that Trattoria Monti is not a secret, having made it into the New York Times about a year ago; see Frank Bruni's 36 hours in Rome.  Still, nice to find it, and to be guided by locals.

My life at the University is not (yet) too demanding. The much vaunted Italian bureaucracy indeed is impressive, but so far no disasters. All problems seem to vanish in the wake of a wonderfully helpful group secretary, who also scouted apartments for us.  My office is in the "old" physics building, named for Marconi. Actually this building, with the rest of the campus, dates from the time of Mussolini. The real "old physics building" is just a few blocks from our apartment, on the via Panisperna. It was there that Fermi and his young colleagues ("the boys of Panisperna") did their pioneering work.  Fermi did spend two years in the Marconi building, and it is now also the repository of memorabilia. I must say that walking in each day to a larger than life portrait of "the boys" is pretty funny, especially since I have to connect the image of a sweet young Emilio Segre to the tough old man I encountered as a young faculty member in Berkeley.

On the other hand, seeing those pictures reminded me of a seminar which Segre gave in Berkeley about the history of the Rome group. Remarkably, he actually did a demonstration of the induced radioactivity experiments on the table at the front of the lecture hall, complete with a bath of water to slow down the neutrons and make them more effective (as evidence by the rapid clicking of the Geiger counter). It would be nice to see the original goldfish pond on the via Panisperna where the experiment was done first.

The Marconi building is becoming a maze as the locals try to carve out extra office and lab space from the once grand corridors. Much of the structure and entranceway is newly restored, faithful to the original plans. The portrait of Mussolini was of course removed long ago, and thankfully not replaced. What has been added is a plaque in memory of the architect, who died in the Mauthausen concentration camp.  The whole campus' grand fascist era architecture in some ways has a stark beauty, but of course it is also pompous and filled with bad associations. There is a new layer being added, as the names appearing on buildings (like Fermi and Segre) become those of great figures who fled the fascist persecutions. Perhaps this active wrestling with history is the best that one can do.

On a lighter note, I find the peace and quiet of being truly away from things already is giving me time to think.  We'll see what bubbles up.

Learning New Tricks

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Pompeii and the Live Lava Lamp

There is a special showing of Pompeian art at the National Museum of Rome at the Palazzo Massimo. (I like the name, don't you?) Took the Metro up to the train station. It was about 5:30pm or 17:30 as time is kept in Italy. The train was packed and I had to insert myself into the dense crowd in the car. What is this? Tokyo? What are we? Sheep?


Live Lava Lamp

As I emerged from the station near the Piazza Repubblica, I heard an incredible sound. Thousands, possibly millions, of small birds were flying overhead, sometimes landing in the trees but mostly seeming to be thrilled with the cool evening air, the moon and the sunset. They formed huge flocks that flew up high, then swooped down and flew through each other, apparently keeping intact as they merged then separated, changing shape the whole time. The pictures don't do it justice. Clearly I'll have to learn to use the video feature on my camera because I can't resist going back to see it again. It went on for the more than half an hour that I was there.


A few minutes later Bill showed up so that we could see the Pompeii exhibit at the museo. The birds had settled down by now, it had gotten dark, but the first tale of the day from Bill was about having spoken with a colleague who has recently done work on the behavior of large flocks of birds. I wonder if this Piazza Repubblica performance helped to inspire that effort.

Update! Here is a link to the papers on flocking bird behavior and, indeed, not only were Bill's colleagues inspired by these birds, but the studies were done right here on these same incredible flocks. For those of you interested in reading the papers, here is the link: http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.1667


Pompeii at the Museo Nazionale Romano at Palazzo Massimo

The people of Pompei also seemed to live joyful lives, at least as demonstrated by their wall paintings and before the volcano blew its top. The Museo has a large collection of very delicate wall paintings and several entire rooms set up so that we were able to see how they fit into a home. The small rooms were not readily accessible for photographs, but I was able to shoot other works.




(A note of thanks to the Italians for allowing photography, understandably without flash. They also have good signage in both Italian and English - we ignorant tourists salute you! - which includes some lovely poetry relevant to the work on the walls:

"Olympian Muses, fill my heart with longing for a new song: I am eager to hear the maiden voice of girls singing a beautiful melody to the heavens."
Alcmane, fr. 3 (p. Oxy, 2387)

This was in the section on theatrical paintings.)



The museum also has its permanent collection, of course. This includes many Roman copies of Greek sculptures, some extremely beautiful. There are plenty of heads of famous Romans, funerary reliefs, and gods and godesses, even a hermaphrodite. Incredible mosaics, using the tiniest of stones, are on display, as well as a kind of mosaic made with glass, stone, and shell. Very colorful; the different materials add a lot to the texture and way the light reflects off the work.









Interesting hairdo, don't you think?
Too bad the nose job didn't turn out well.


I bought a nine-museums-for-seven-days ticket. Maybe today I will try the Crypta Balbi or Palazzo Altemps. What a place!

More notes on the neighborhood

Yesterday, Saturday, we headed east. We had heard that there is a good market not too far from us, the Nuovo Mercato Esquilino. It is somewhat maligned in the guide books, but we thought it would be worth a try. This is an area with some ethnic diversity and so this phenomenal market has food vendors from all over the world. We were overwhelmed (literally) by all the fish stands, butcher's stalls selling everything including halal meats, sellers of veges, fruits, and nuts and pulses in folded down burlap bags, and the always colorful spice stands with turmeric, paprika, and various curry spices that really brighten everything up. Not that the people, signs, sounds and activity weren't enough!

On the way back we had a long leisurely lunch at the great Trattoria Monti and noticed another of the good things about this neighborhood, lots of "real stores" as opposed to tourist shops, around here: shops selling affordable clothes, not as interesting as the designer fashions a half hour walk away, office supplies "super store", grocers, farmacias with drugs and foot supports and not so much emphasis on Kiehls face washes, a sewing machine store, a bike shop, a couple of piano shops and, of course, lots of tiny bars and cafes.

Wanderings

Have been spending the last few days wandering around with no particular plan. The weather has been beautiful, cool and sunny. One day, I headed northwest passing behind the Pantheon and got as far as the Piazza Navona.Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza

On the way, I managed to find my way into a spectacular small church, Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, facing the courtyard of a building that was the University of Rome from the 15th century until 1935. This is an unusual church even for the Baroque period. It is by Borromini and is based on a complicated and beautiful geometry using curves and spirals in a rather playful way. This scheme includes an unusual twisted spiral and thin iron crown on the top.
Piazza Navona

On Piazza Navona, almost across the street, I found that sadly, the main fountain (of the Four Rivers) in the Piazza Navona is under much needed restoration so it is not easy to see. However, the people hanging out in the Piazza are still fun, with performers and large groups of teenagers standing around looking cool. These aren't quite outnumbered by the tourists yet. And the other two fountains, the artists, and another beautiful Baroque church called Sant'Agnese in Agone, also by Borromini, are more than enough to make the visit rewarding.





Shopping anyone?

Heading for home I came across a shop selling clothes (vestments) for the clergy. Very ornate things in the window in front, with sensible shoes and plain undies in the windows off the street.

At the crossroads (side by side roads?) of past and present.

Yesterday I wandered past the Colloseo and the Arch of Constantine and spent most of the day on the Palatine Hill. Quiet and green with ruins scattered amongst the trees and grass and some of the best views in the city, especially if your interest is ancient ruins.

There is also a small museum which has some interesting Roman sculptures, many of which are copies of Greek originals. The handling of the drapery is especially nice.

A "manifestation"

Today, I awoke to men yelling. It went on for awhile so I went out onto the street to see what was up. The sounds reminded me a bit of the riots in Berkeley in 1970 and sure enough, lines of police, young guys with bull horns leading organized yells and lots of grim faces marching down the Via Cavour brought me sharply back to that time and place. This, however, had a very different political flavor as I was to discover later. These appeared to be student ultra-rightists marching to honor Italians who were killed in the disputed border regions with Yugoslavia at the end of World War II. The politics are very complicated.


Thru Piazza San Pietro and across the bridge towards home

Later, I returned to the present, if you can ever say you are there in Rome, and took the Metro to the Vatican. Didn't go in but wandered from there over the Ponte Vittorio Emanuelle II through the center of the city home.










Bought some wine glasses on the way and got a photo or two of loving doves in a ruined capital of the ancient Forum of Nerva. Can you find them?






The winter sun low behind the monument to the unification of Italy. This has been a political day.

A great place to be. A great place to stay.

Something about Rome is humanizing. Being out and about feels right. Small cobble stoned streets where close interactions with people and cars, cafe smells, construction projects, steep stairs and stunning sites are a constant. And no point in hurrying.
Our first night we had supper at a nearby cafe filled with cool-looking, black-wearing, twenty-somethings, then walked past, and sometimes into, places of all ages, ancient and new. The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, St. Eustachio's amazing coffee cafe.

Then, temporarily locked out of the gate to our little apartment. Eventually a kind neighbor buzzed us in. And we were grateful. Jet lagged and tired, we feared that our otherwise perfect place to stay had a flaw. But no, key problems have been sorted out and now all is well.






The apartment is airy and bright, having been recently remodeled in a building built in 1892 (an exposed brick attests to this). A beautiful and relatively spacious kitchen (referred to as "American") has allowed us to cook most of our meals so far, the bed is comfortable and the plumbing works. The design is ingenious and modern with excellent use of IKEA resources. I've always wondered what it would be like to design a place around IKEA and now I can test it out a bit. So far so good!

And, it has a garden! Here, in the middle of the city, a garden complete with two lemon trees and a mandarin orange, marble tables, tiny iron chairs, and a bit of dichondra. The sun is only in the garden for a few minutes these days, but I am sure we will see more of it as the season progresses. And, soon to appear, I hope, a turtle or two, or so my lovely landlady, Ginevra, tells me.

Great trip thanks to Eos Airlines

Leaving home was both happy and sad. I was glad to get away from the cold and sad to leave everyone I love. I'm sure this photo is hard to figure out but tells the story: Chloe is trying to figure out why, on a rare warm day in winter, the hose is pooping ice!



Eos

Bill found a great airline called Eos set up for overseas business travelers. Instead of regular seats they have bed seats, 6.5 feet long and remarkably comfortable. Eos is ordinary on the outside... but extraordinary on the inside! We both slept very well before landing at Standsted near London. A short layover then on to Rome via the very cheap Ryanair. Narrow seats but wisely not reclinable so the 2+ hours flight didn't seem as crowded as US coach seating.


Views of the Alps on the way south were phenomenal, but what is that UFO leaving a smoky trail as it flew in front of us and away? Landing in Rome, luggage recovery, customs and taxi to new place all flawless! Some kind of miracle in a place famous for that sort of thing! (Miracles, I mean, not necessarily efficiency.)